Halloween Festivities

This year we had two superheros and one pretty princess. I am always amazed when I get all three of them together in one picture looking at me...it rarely ever happens. Usually I have to bribe them big time to get them to stand still long enough for me to shoot a couple of pictures. I think today's bribe was candy!!

EMMA - bibity bobity boo CINDERELLA!






ANDREW - nananananananana BATMAN!




PETER - it's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERMAN!





MIKE AND SARA - I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!



Mike and I dressed up this year for an adult Halloween party given by one of our friends. It really was quite an amazing party with a spooky scavenger hunt too. Thank you so much friends!

This year even though it was raining a little we stood outside and watched the school parade. Andrew hid from me as he was walking past me--he doesn't like to stand out or really get his picture taken. Peter, on the other hand, is happy to smile, wave, and be the center of attention! Go figure.



All of the kids looked so awesome. It was fun to stand outside one of our friend's house drinking hot chocolate and waving at each one our kids as they walked by. So FUN! Later that day I made a fun Halloween Dinner - the menu this year was Mummy Hotdogs and Cemetary Pudding. Last year I bought these fun plates and cups and decided every year we would have a fun Halloween Dinner before trick-or-treating. The hotdogs were a big hit - I even had two of them. OINK OINK I know! Oh, and we listened to our Halloween Mix that our friend made last year...thanks Jamie!





After gobbling down dinner as fast as their little mouths would let them, the kids got their bags and headed out the door with Mike for some good old fashioned neighborhood trick-or-treating! I got to stay home with Abby - to my delight - and clean up dinner and pass out candy to anyone who came to our door. They all came home with lots of candy and we had some candy left over from our bowl. We should have given more candy to each of our little customers. I don't think we had as many trick-or-treaters this year.

A couple of days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. The boys picked our their own designs and Mike carved them. Here is what they choose:

Emma and her simple happy pumpkin


Peter and his spooky tree pumpkin


Andrew and his scarry man pumpkin


Our pumpkins all lit up - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Gratitude

I usually don't use my blog to express my deep thoughts but rather the events and joys of what our family is doing. However, I thought I would break away from my norm and jot down a few thoughts that I have been having. I have had a lot of time at night lately to just think about life. With Mike working so much during this rotation I find myself trying to stay busy with various projects so that I don't go too crazy while he is away. Every once in a while I get down on myself or frustrated with things. As I was talking with my mom tonight I was again reminded of why I love her so much. She and I are the best of friends. There is not a day that goes by that I don't talk to her on the phone. She is not only my sounding board but the greatest example of faith, hope, charity, love, and patience. I am truly GRATEFUL to her for her love of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we were talking she reminded me of something President Thomas S. Monson said. He said, "Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle but YOU will be the miracle." I do believe that we go through certain things in our lives to help make us stronger. We can be the miracles in our own lives but more importantly, we can be the miracle in someone else's life. I am so GRATEFUL for the friends that have helped me when I needed it. They have been the miracle in my life. When we step outside of ourselves and think of what our friends and neighbors may need, we are LIVING LIKE WE BELIEVE!

My Photography

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Live, Laugh, Love

Could there be anything sweeter than a little girl who loves her mama?? I have been having SO much fun playing with Abby. Today we played "Superman" and she just loved it. I actually got her to giggle. I kept thinking to myself, "I wish someone were here to take pictures of us playing together." Instead of letting this memory just be a memory, I got out my tripod for a little fun. As I tried to get the camera positioned just right I was running back and forth from camera to the floor with Abby and having a dang good time in the process...and boy was it a workout. Sometimes it's nice to just be in the moment and sometimes it's nice to be able to SEE a memory. This was definitely one of those times. Hopefully Abby will be able to look back at this picture and know how much I loved playing with her!

From a Tiny Seed

Last year Mike built a really nice planter box so that we could plant vegetables and flowers with the kids. This Spring we planted peas and flowers in it and enjoyed our yummy tasting peas during June and July. Mike also made a ground planter box so that we could plant watermelon, carrots, and squash. We couldn't believe that we actually got decent sized carrots. Peter and Emma were so excited to help pull the many carrots from the ground. We have really enjoyed teaching our kids about planting a garden and enjoying the benefits from waiting patiently for things to grow. Next year I want to plant tomatoes because I love fresh tomatoes. Who knows...maybe the kids will actually try them if we grow them!